Agitator for washing machines



Dec. 3, 1963 R. R. WALTON 3,112,632

AGITATOR FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed May 4, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. R.WALTON AGITATOR FOR WASHING MACHINES Dec. 3, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMay 4, 1962 United States Patent 3,112,632 AGITATGR FOR WASHING MACHINESRichard R. Walton, 1!} W. Hill Place, Boston 14, Mass. Filed May 4,1962, Ser. No. 1%,384 2 Claims. (Cl. 58-54) This invention relates toclothes washing machines and similar devices and is concerned primarilywith a new and improved agitator of the rotationally oscillating varietyfor use therewith.

The conventional clothes washer having a rotationally oscillatingagitator relies upon the production of a toroidal circulation andagitation of the combined mass of clothes and liquid as a whole withincidental and accidental scrubbing of portions of clothing by theagitator blades. The result is undue power requirement, less efficientwashing, as well as uneven distribution and tangling of the clothesproducingunbalanced load for spin drying and making them hard toseparate from each other when they are taken from the tub, as everyhousewife knows. If the circulation and scrubbing of the clothes couldbe produced at least in part indepedently of the circulation of theliquid so that the articles would present themselves one at a time to ascrubber to be scrubbed (as in hand washing) rather than be circulatedas a heavy sodden mass, it is vlear that economies of power and gentlerand more efficient washing would result, tangling could be eliminatedand a higher ratio of clothes to liquid could be employed in the samesize machine.

According to the present invention these beneficial results are achievedby the use of my new and improved agitator which is adapted to berotataionally oscillated in a tub.

The novel agitator comprises a center post provided with liquid passagespermitting free flow of liquid lengthwise thereof and having a series oflongitudinally extending external projections serving not only to keepthe articles being washed from clogging the liquid passages but also toscrub the articles as the agitator oscillates. A series of flexiblevanes extends outwardly from such post near one end. The agitator isadapted to be mounted vertically in a tub and to be oscillatedrotationally by suitable driving mechanism. When so operated in a tubcontaining liquid and articles to be scrubbed the vanes impel the liquidand articles away from one end of the center post causing acorresponding circulation of liquid and articles toward the post nearthe other end thereof. The articles are drawn by liquid flow intocontact with the projections while the liquid passes beyond theprojections into the passages where it is free to flow toward the vanessince the articles are kept from clogging the passages by the presenceof the projections. The circulation thus presses the articles againstthe projections which scrub them much like an old fashioned hand washboard, each article slowly migrating along the projections toward thevanes. When the articles reach the area of the vanes they are impelledoutwardly into the tub away from the agitator. The scrubbing action uponthe articles is individual, in marked contrast with the conventionalaction, cleaning is very effective yet gentle, the load is evenlydistributed, no tangling occurs, and power consumption is greatlyreduced as compared with standard machines. Greatly increased loads may'be washed in the same size tub with little or no change in the otherwisereduced power requirements. Furthermore, frequency of oscillation mayoptionally be increased to reduce the length of the cycle.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a presently preferredembodiment of my invention as applied to a standard clothes washingmachine.

FIG. 1 is a Vertical cross-sectional view, one fourth scale, of astandard clothes washer tub in which the novel agitator of my inventionis mounted on a rotationally oscillatable drive shaft;

FIG. 2 is a top planview, three-eighths scale, of my novel agitator,omitting the tub;

IG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View, full scale, of the agitatortaken on lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a similar view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is an isometric view, one-half scale, of the base of the agitatorcenter post and a single separate vane illustrating the mode ofattaching the latter in slots cut in the former.

The tub of a standard clothes washer is indicated by the numeral It).Through the bottom of the tub extends a rotationally oscillatable driveshaft 12 of the usual kind. The remainder of the machine has not beenshown since it is well known in the art. My novel agitator is indicatedgenerally by the numeral 14. It comprises a generally cylindrical centerpost 16 having a series of vertical smooth surfaced external projectionshere shown in the form of integral ribs 18 which define a correspondingseries of vertical grooves 29 therebetween forming longitudinallyextending liquid passages. The post is hollow and is adapted to fi-t onan extension 22 of the shaft 12 and be held in place in any suitablemanner as by a nut 24 (FIGS. 1 and 2), as is well known.

Near the bottom of the post is mounted a radially outwardly extendingseries of flexible vanes 26 which, when the agitator is installed in thetub 19, are located just above the tub bottom which preferably iselevated near its center as indicated by the numeral 28 so that thevanes may extend not only radially outwardly but somewhat downwardly forbest results. Each vane 26 (FIGS. 1 and 5) is preferably shapedsubstantially as shown, being relatively wide in a vertical directionnear the post, as at 39; somewhat narrowed near its end at 32; and againwidened at the tip 35%.

As shown in the drawings both the post and vanes are made of suitableplastics suitably joined to each other as by an epoxy resin or othercement as indicated at 36. The post 16 is slotted at 38 (FIG. 5) toreceive the vanes 26. The post may be molded of a phenolic plastic as iscommon in making ordinary washing machine agitators. The vanes arepreferably of resilient flexible plastic, such as polypropylene, whosestrength and resilience improve with use. Metal may be used for bothpost and vanes or either of them but I believe that the plasticsmentioned will be found preferable for longer service, freedom frombreakage and less likelihood of tearing of clothing. When the vanes areof plastic they preferably are tapered in their horizontal cross-sectionas indicated in FIG. 2, being thicker at the base than at the tip.

The reason for the configuration and tapering just mentioned is that Ihave found that for best results the vanes in use should have maximumflexibility primarily near their tips, as indicated in FIG. 2. Thisflexing produces a fish-tail effect with resulting optimum impelling ofclothes and liquid away from the center post at the tub bottom. Ifresilient sheet-metal vanes are used the same type of flexing is causedby the narrowing at 32., even though the vanes are not tapered in theircross-section.

In operation I have found that my new agitator produces the surprisingresult of circulating the clothes and liquid, while scrubbing theclothes, in a manner Wholly new in machines of the rotationallyoscillating type.

Thus, when the machine shown in the drawingsis operated with a load ofclothes immersed in liquid, a generally toroidal circulation is inducedas indicated by the unique character.

arrows in FIG. 1. But this circulation is not of the kind usuallyassociated with machines of this type but is of a After the articles arewhisked away by the action of the vanes from the bottom of the agitator,as it oscillates rotationally, they ascend toward the surface near theouter walls of the tub. The water flow then carries them toward thecenter post near the top. This continuous flow presses the articlesagainst the oscillating ribs 13 to be scrubbed thereby, as seen in FIG.3, while the liquid passes over, around and through the articles intothe grooves which form passages 26 and flows utterly free fromobstruction to the base of the agitator to be thrown centrifugallyoutwardly by the vanes. The liquid, it will be seen, is thus circulatedin the immediate vicinity of the agitator post unimpeded by andseparately from the articles of clothing, while liquid and articlestogether are circulating in the zone remote from the agitator. Theliquid thus circulates at a different speed than the clothing, and thisresults in the articles presenting themselves one at a time, to the ribsof the agitator to be scrubbed as by a hand wash board. The articlesslowly descend along the smooth rib surfaces during the scrubbing actionand are replaced by the next succeeding articles. There is no tanglingand, indeed, already tangled articles will be untangled by this uniqueaction. Thus by my invention I eliminate tangling, the single greatestimpediment to good but gentle washing. Likewise, the articles will bedistributed evenly, loosely, and independently of each other around thetub, preventing imbalance in machines equipped with spin drying. Asubstantially higher ratio of clothes to liquid may be employed in thesame size tub.

Tests conducted by a manufacturer of commercial household washingmachines indicate that, in comparison with three different standardwashers, the agitator of the invention gave almost identical washabilityresults with loads of 8, 10 and 12 lbs. whereas in the standard machinesthe results fell off sharply at 10 lbs. and even more sharply at 12 lbs.Even with an 8 lb. load the novel agitator gave better results than anyof the others.

While I have herein disclosed and described a presently preferred formof the invention and the best mode presently contemplated by me to carryout the same, it will nevertheless be understood that such is only byway of example and that the scope of the invention is to be limited onlyby the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An agitator adapted for rotational oscillation for scrubbing articlesin a washing machine or similar device having a tub and oscillatingdriving mechanism, said agitator comprising i a center post for mountingvertically in said tub, a series of outwardly extending flexible vanesmounted at one end of said post,

each of said vanes having a vertical dimension greater than itshorizontal thickness to provide vertically arranged liquid impellingsurfaces for impeiling articles and liquid away from such end of saidcenter post and causing corresponding circulation of liquid and articlestoward {.16 other end thereof,

a series of external projections extending lengthwise of said centerpost,

said projections forming liquid passages therebetween also extendinglengthwise of said post to 15 conduct liquid to the intervals betweenthe inner ends of said vanes, said projections serving to keep saidarticles from clogging said liquid passages so that the liquid passesthrough said passages to said vanes independently of and unimpeded bysaid articles while the latter are drawn against and scrubbed by saidprojections. 2. An agitator adapted for rotational oscillation forscrubbing articles in a washing machine or similar device having a tuband oscillating driving mechanism, said agitator comprising a centerpost for mounting vertically in said tub, a series of outwardlyextending flexible vanes mounted at the bottom end of said post,

each of said vanes having a vertical dimension greater than itshorizontal thickness to provide vertically arranged liquid impellingsurfaces for in'tpelling articles and liquid away from such end of saidcenter post and causing corresponding circulation of liquid and articlestoward the other end thereof, and

a series of spaced parallel ribs formed on and extending lengthwise ofsaid post so that during oscillation of said agitator liquid will passbetween said ribs to the intervals between the inner ends of said vaneswhile said articles are drawn against and scrubbed by said ribs.

1. AN AGITATOR ADAPTED FOR ROTATIONAL OSCILLATION FOR SCRUBBING ARTICLESIN A WASHING MACHINE OR SIMILAR DEVICE HAVING A TUB AND OSCILLATINGDRIVING MECHANISM, SAID AGITATOR COMPRISING A CENTER POST FOR MOUNTINGVERTICALLY IN SAID TUB, A SERIES OF OUTWARDLY EXTENDING FLEXIBLE VANESMOUNTED AT ONE END OF SAID POST, EACH OF SAID VANES HAVING A VERTICALDIMENSION GREATER THAN ITS HORIZONTAL THICKNESS TO PROVIDE VERTICALLYARRANGED LIQUID IMPELLING SURFACES FOR IMPELLING ARTICLES AND LIQUIDAWAY FROM SUCH END OF SAID CENTER POST AND CAUSING CORRESPONDINGCIRCULATION OF LIQUID AND ARTICLES TOWARD THE OTHER END THEREOF, ASERIES OF EXTERNAL PROJECTIONS EXTENDING LENGTHWISE OF SAID CENTER POST,SAID PROJECTIONS FORMING LIQUID PASSAGES THEREBETWEEN ALSO EXTENDINGLENGTHWISE OF SAID POST TO CONDUCT LIQUID TO THE INTERVALS BETWEEN THEINNER ENDS OF SAID VANES, SAID PROJECTIONS SERVING TO KEEP SAID ARTICLESFROM CLOGGING SAID LIQUID PASSAGES SO THAT THE LIQUID PASSES THROUGHSAID PASSAGES TO SAID VANES INDEPENDENTLY OF AND UNIMPEDED BY SAIDARTICLES WHILE THE LATTER ARE DRAWN AGAINST AND SCRUBBED BY SAIDPROJECTIONS.